Dear Sinéad and Siouxsie,
I have a cat named Pumpkin, who showed up at our door last spring. We eventually took her in when we realized she wasn't going away. Then late in the fall we discovered another cat under our outbuilding. She wasn't friendly at all and wouldn't let us near her. We tried to trap her but were unsuccessful. We wound up feeding her all winter. I worried about her, because the winter was so cold, but she pulled through fine and was fat and seemed healthy. Lately she has been coming to the house in the morning to be fed as well as at night. She is getting a little less fearful of us, not always running out of sight when we feed her.

Well, this morning she was out laying in the sun and she had two kittens with her. They look to be at least a month old. They are still nursing but they are running around and leaping about, attacking my flowers. They're so cute, and Momma is such a trooper. What do I do? I would like to tame them somehow. If I don't get them and have them neutered, we will be overrun by feral cats. That's if the kittens make it. We have a fox around the neighborhood. And then there's my cat, which I think is related to the momma cat. They both have long hair and enormous tails, and hair tufts sticking out their ears and paws. But they don't get along; both fight for territory. I don't want my cat to catch something either. How do you go about getting the mother cat as well as the kittens to trust you? I called the humane center and they said we would have to catch them ourselves, and if we brought them in, the cats belonged to them and I wouldn't be sure to get them back, even if I paid for their neutering and board while they were tamed . . . which is a moot point since we can't catch her. Any help you can give me would be appreciated. I'll try anything.(almost). Thanks for your time and any advice you can give me.

Sincerely,
Althea

Sinéad: Wow, you're really kind, to take care of those feral cats and to care about their well-being like that!

Siouxsie: Yeah, definitely. It's awesome that you want to do something to help them, not only because they might bring diseases to your cat friend but because they deserve a break.

Sinéad: It's really hard to tame a feral cat, as you seem to know from experience. Mama says adult feral cats rarely get tame enough to live inside houses as people's animal friends. Some kittens can get tamed if they're taken into families young enough, but some kittens will not be tame-able, either.

JaneA: I remember many years ago, we had a feral cat who came around our house in the country. He would skulk around the edges of the forest, and eventually, he got up the nerve to come into the yard. We began leaving food out for him, too, but we decided that if he was going to live around our house, we should try and get him trapped so he could be neutered and get his shots so he wouldn't endanger our cats. This is how we did it:

We borrowed a Have-A-Heart trap from a friend. This is a kind of trap that cages an animal instead of hurting it like a wildlife trapping trap does. We put a can of very tasty cat food inside the trap and set it outside where he usually ate. It took a couple of days, but he got inside the trap, triggered it, and he was caught. He wasn't happy about it at all, but we took him to the vet, he got fixed, and got his shots. For a while, we tried to keep him inside, because he seemed to be responsive to people--he purred and rubbed my hand when I came up to him--but the minute he had a chance, he made a break for it.

Siouxsie: Sounds like even though he liked the good attention, he didn't want to be a family cat.

Sinéad: Some cats don't want to be family cats. Some prefer being barn cats or outside cats. Feral cats especially prefer to stay away from people.

Siouxsie: A lot of times, feral cats have been hurt by people who think it's funny to kick around a stray cat or shoot BB guns at it or even more horrible things than that. I think it's sick what people will do to stray cats!

Sinéad: Me, too! It makes me want to cry, thinking of people torturing those poor kitties. They never did anything wrong. It's not their fault that their parents' people were irresponsible and didn't get their parents fixed!

JaneA: Aw, Sinéad, it's OK. It makes me sad, too. I know the lives of feral cats can be really awful, but there's a group right here in Maine called Friends of Feral Felines that helps stray cats. FFF humanely traps stray cats, takes them to the vet to get spayed or neutered and immunized, and returns them to their colonies. They also have lots of volunteers who foster kittens in hopes of finding that they will become adoptable "people cats." If the kittens don't become tame family cats, then they try to find places where they can be happy, healthy barn cats. Friends of Feral Felines is based in Portland, but they work anywhere within a 50-mile radius of Portland. Althea, they may be able to give you some advice on how to trap your feral cat and her kittens, even if they can't come and do the job themselves. You can e-mail them at friendsofferalfelines@hotmail.com or call them at 797-3014. If you e-mail them, be sure to include your telephone number for quickest response.

Sinéad: Wow, they sound awesome! Siouxsie and I love people who help cats. If we end up having to Move down to Portland so you can get a Job (as if being our loyal servant weren't an important enough job!), will you volunteer to work with them?

JaneA: Of course I will. Don't doubt it for a second! And you know I live to serve you, ladies, but I still have to earn money so we can eat.

Siouxsie: Eating is good!

Sinéad: Mama, I'm worried about the kittens. If Althea traps the stray mama cat in the Have-A-Heart trap, what are her kittens going to do? They're still nursing, and they won't live without her.

JaneA: You're right, Sinéad. Thanks for reminding me. Althea, if you do manage to catch your feral cat, make sure you catch the kittens, too, and bring them all to the vet together at the same time. It probably won't be as hard to catch the kittens because they'll want to stay close to their mother. But don't try to put the kittens in the cage with Mama until you've got everybody in one room, because Mama will run for her life if she has even the slightest opportunity to get out.

Sinéad: You'll be able to make the cat food inside the Have-A-Heart trap more tempting if you resist the urge to feed her for a day or so. Then she'll be hungrier, and more likely to go wandering into the trap in search of food. I know Siouxsie's gone into some crazy places to get food. Once she even got a yogurt container stuck on her head! Hee hee hee! She was running around backwards in circles trying to get it off, and it wouldn't come off! It was so funny . . .

Siouxsie: Yeah, well, you got stuck in the basement of the store downstairs, and you wouldn't come out when people were around because you were too scared!

Sinéad: Oh yeah? Well, at least I don't . . .

JaneA: Ladies, please.

Sinéad: Sorry, Mama. Well, Althea, I hope that helps you catch your stray cat, and I'm sure that Friends of Feral Felines will be able to give you some more good advice.

Got a question? Need some advice? E-mail Sinéad and Siouxsie at advice@paws-and-effect.com. None of the advice in this column is meant to be a substitute for regular veterinary care.